by baltar447 6 Replies latest jw friends
Hey JWN.
I have some good friends that are trying to get custody of their wife's daughter from the kid's grandmother who is a JW. Unfortunately she's loaded and they have little means to fight a custody battle. Is there any legal resources that they can reach out to or any attorneys that work on the side of fighting against JWs?
a country would help
check this out http://jwchildcustody.com
If the child's grandmother has custody and the parents don't, it sounds like there might be some other piece of the puzzle other than religion at play?
Generally the rights of a father would come before the right of a grandparent to have the child.
Yes, early on the mother was working through emotional or mental issues and the daugther is autistic. She is stable now though. The state is Texas.
Have the parental rights been terminated? Has there already been a custody determination by a court in favor of the grandparent? Based on the information you provided, I suspect that the religion angle may not the best thing to focus on.
If rights have not been terminated and this is an original proceeding, there is a presumption that it's in the best interest of child for the natural parent to have custody. The parent should only have to prove that she herself is fit, not that the grandparent is unfit because of her religion or any other reason.
But in addition to what has been provided, if the religion card is going to be played and the attorney is not familiar with these types of cases, I suggest reading and/or have the parents' attorney read Dealing with Jehovah's Witness Custody Cases by Jerry Bergman. Summary is here. The attorney will have the credentials needed to obtain the full article. Or if you PM me an e-mail address, I can send it to you.
